Plaskolite to acquire Covestro North American PC sheet manufacturing business

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Plaskolite, LLC, North America’s largest manufacturer of acrylic sheet products, has announced that it is acquiring the North American polycarbonate sheet manufacturing business of Covestro, a global leader in high-tech polymer materials, as per Plaskolite's press release.

The acquisition transforms the North American sheet industry by combining the leader in acrylic manufacturing and the leader in polycarbonate manufacturing.

As a part of the transaction, Plaskolite is acquiring sheet headquarters, production sites and warehouse facilities in Sheffield, Massachusetts and will maintain the existing third-party distribution warehouse facility in Hebron, Ohio. With this acquisition, Plaskolite will employ 950 people.

The closing is expected to be completed August 1, 2018.

Founded in 1950 in Columbus, Ohio, by Donald G. Dunn and family, Plaskolite, LLC is the largest North American manufacturer of see-through thermoplastic sheet products. Plaskolite’s customized products are used in a wide variety of applications, including windows, doors, lighting, signs, point-of-purchase displays and bath products. Plaskolite serves a diverse customer base including distributors, OEMs and retailers.

"This acquisition is transformational for Plaskolite and strengthens our industry leadership position," said Mitchell Grindley, Plaskolite’s President and CEO. "It broadens our offering and further strengthens our partnerships. Plaskolite will be the only manufacturer ever to offer a complete clear sheet product portfolio, including Acrylic, Polycarbonate, PETG and ABS, which is a benefit to customers who can now turn to one source for all their sheet needs."

This will be the second business that Plaskolite has acquired from Covestro. In 2012, Plaskolite purchased its North American Vivak line of PETG sheet. Covestro corporate headquarters are in Leverkusen, Germany.

This announcement follows Plaskolite’s February 12, 2018 announcement of its acquisition of the Continuous Cast Acrylic Sheet Business of Lucite International, Inc., which broadened its acrylic sheet offering and provided an entree into the spa and bath sheet business.

As MRC reported earlier, on 1 September, 2015, Bayer MaterialScience became known as Covestro. Bayer aims to float this business on the stock market by mid-2016 at the latest. The plans for the carve-out of Bayer MaterialScience were announced in September 2014.

Covestro (formerly Bayer MaterialScience) is an independent subgroup within Bayer. It was created as part of the restructuring of Bayer AG from the former business group Bayer Polymers, with certain of its activities being spun off to Lanxess AG. Covestro manufactures and develops materials such as coatings, adhesives and sealants, polycarbonates (CDs, DVDs), polyurethanes (automotive seating, insulation for refrigerating appliances) etc.

Founded in 1950 in Columbus, Ohio, by Donald G. Dunn and family, Plaskolite, LLC is the largest privately owned North American manufacturer of see-through thermoplastic sheet products. Plaskolite’s customized products are used in a wide variety of applications, including windows, doors, lighting, signs, point-of-purchase displays and bath products. Plaskolite serves a diverse customer base including distributors, OEMs and retailers. In 2015, Charlesbank Capital Partners became the first outside equity investor in Plaskolite.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has said its subsidiary Reliance Eagleford Upstream Holding LP will sell certain assets in Eagle Ford shale to Sundance Energy Inc for a consideration of USD 100 million (over Rs 650 crore), as per The Times of India.

Reliance Eagleford Upstream Holding LP is a subsidiary of both Reliance Holding USA, Inc and Reliance Industries Ltd.

Reliance Eagleford Upstream Holding LP has signed a purchase and sale agreement with Sundance Energy Inc to divest its interest in certain acreage, producing wells and related assets in the western portion of its Eagle Ford shale position for approximate consideration of USD 100 million, it said in a statement.

The assets being sold are located in Atascosa, La Salle, Live Oak and McMullen Counties, Texas.

Reliance continues to retain its interest in the remaining Eagle Ford assets that are core to its development priorities, the company said.

The deal is subject to certain customary adjustments and closing terms and conditions.

The sale is expected to close in the first quarter of FY2018-19.

RIL said the "transaction is in conjunction with sales made by Pioneer Natural Resources USA Inc and Newpek LLC, the other working interest owners in the Joint Development with Reliance".

As MRC informed before, in February 2016, RIL was awarded a contract worth Rs. 100 crore to Petron Engineering Construction Ltd for its linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant in Gujarat. The LLDPE plant is part of RIL's J-3 project in Jamnagar in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The J-3 project boasts of a petroleum refinery and allied petrochemical plants for the production of plastics and fibre intermediates.

Reliance Industries is one of the world's largest producers of polymers. Thus, the company produces among others polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Analysis of planned Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) unit capacity of refineries shows that the Ratnagiri refinery in India has the highest planned FCC capacity globally, with 312 Mbpd during 2018 to 2022, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

China and Nigeria follow with 304 Mbpd and 247 Mbpd, respectively, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. The Ratnagiri refinery in India has the highest planned FCC capacity globally, with 312 Mbpd during 2018 to 2022. The refinery is expected to start operations in 2022 with a total capex of USD40.0bn. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd is the operator of the refinery.

The Dayushan Island refinery in China has the second highest planned FCC capacity with 304 Mbpd. The refinery is expected to start operations in 2018 with a total capex of USD15.0bn. Zhejiang Petrochemical Co Ltd is the operator for the refinery.

The Lagos I refinery in Nigeria has the third highest planned FCC capacity in 2022, with a capacity of 247 Mbpd. The refinery is expected to start operations in 2019. Dangote Group is the operator for Lagos I refinery.

Pulau Muara Besar has the fourth highest planned FCC capacity with 171.6 Mbpd. The refinery is located in Brunei and is expected to start operations in 2019. Hengyi Industries Sdn Bhd is the operator. Pulau Muara Besar has a total capex of USD3.4bn.

The Jizan refinery in Saudi Arabia has the fifth highest FCC capacity with 156 Mbpd. The refinery is expected to start operations in 2018 with a total capex of $7.0bn. Saudi Arabian Oil Co is the operator.

Dalian III and Manila refineries are jointly in sixth for planned FCC capacity in 2022, each with a capacity 152 Mbpd. The refineries are expected to start operations in 2019 and 2020 respectively. Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Co., Ltd. is the operator for Dalian III refinery, while China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation is the operator for Manila refinery.

The remaining refineries with planned FCC capacities are Pengerang in Malaysia, Palu in Indonesia and Panjin II in China. These have capacities of 140 Mbpd, 117 Mbpd and 117 Mbpd respectively.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's top independent oil refiner is buying ethanol and two others are seeking government approval to blend the biofuel into their gasoline ahead of the country's 2020 deadline to add it to the nation's fuel supply, several sources told Reuters.

China mandated last September that gasoline supplies should contain 10 percent ethanol, an alcohol typically produced from corn, in a blend known as E10. The push by the private refiners is the first sign of preparations to prepare for the roll-out of the new standard in the world's biggest automotive market.

The country's top independent refiner Dongming Petrochemical Group, based in Heze in the eastern province of Shandong, has received permits from the Ministry of Commerce to begin E10 blending, said three company sources familiar with the matter.

Shandong Wonfull Petrochemical Group, based in the city of Zibo in Shandong province, have applied to the Commerce Ministry for a license to blend ethanol into their fuel for sale to gasoline stations or on the wholesale market, said two sources at the company familiar with the matter.

Henan Fengli Petrochemical Co, a refiner based in Puyang in Henan province, has also applied with the ministry for a blending permit, said a source based with company.

It is not clear when the two companies will receive their approvals.

Dongming Petrochemical plans to start importing ethanol through its trading arm Pacific Commerce Pte to supply to its refinery as well as sell on the market, one of the company sources said.

It is also considering building its own ethanol plant, he said, but did not give any further details.

Meanwhile, Wonfull has installed blending equipment at its refinery, according to the two company sources, who declined to be named because they are not authorized to speak to the media. They did not disclose further details about the plan.

"If the government strictly enforces mandatory rules nationwide, (gas stations) will need to sell blended fuel," one of the Wonfull sources said.

The company has signed a preliminary deal with Chinaoil, China National Petroleum Corp's trading unit, to buy imported ethanol, he said.

A fourth independent refinery, Shandong Haike, is conducting research on the E10 market and may apply for a permit if they think it is promising, a company source said.

Henan Fengli, Shandong Wonfull and Haike could not be reached for official comment. The Commerce Ministry and Chinaoil did not respond to requests for a comment. Dongming was not immediately available for comment.

Importing ethanol could raise the costs of the teapot's foray into the E10 market since China raised the tariff on ethanol to 30 percent in 2017.

While China is the world's third-largest ethanol producer, with output of about 2.1 MMtpy, it is far below the top two producers, Brazil and the United States.

The government aims to double output by 2020 to 4 million tonnes.

Some independents have approached state-run agricultural processor and top ethanol producer COFCO about buying ethanol, a source at the company said.

"The teapots are an enormous market for us," he said. "We are looking to lift our production in northern provinces to meet their demand."

COFCO did not respond to request for comment.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- For 10 years, Hydrocarbon Processing’s International Refining and Petrochemical Conference (IRPC) has been the world's leading downstream technology event, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Join industry leaders and speakers at this high-level technical forum showcasing best practices in the industry and the latest technological advancements in the global petrochemical and refinery sector.

Light cycle oil (LCO) is an important byproduct of fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC). Due to the increasing severity of FCC operations, LCO with a higher aromatic content and lower cetane number is no longer appropriate as a blending component for clean diesel, even after being hydrogenated. To meet the urgent requirements for gasoline consumption and diesel quality, Sinopec discusses a new FCC technology that has been developed that can convert inferior LCO into gasoline with a high research octane number (RON).

Over the years, diesel hydrotreating has emerged as a major technology in downstream oil refining to reduce sulfur, nitrogen and aromatics, while enhancing cetane number and enabling compliance to diesel quality. This presentation discusses a new diesel hydrotreating technology that produces diesel fuel that meets the highest fuel quality regulations. Details on the technology will be provided, along with highlights on the performance of two commercial units now in operation.

MRC